The present invention relates to a storage device provided with a security function, a host apparatus to which the storage device can be inserted, and a host apparatus including the storage device, and in particular to a technique effectively applied to a memory card having a flash memory chip, a controller chip, and an IC card chip, or the like.
For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2004/0162932 (corresponding to Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2004-295160) as a conventional technique examined by the present inventors describes a memory card where divided memory areas are allocated to respective application programs (Applets) on an IC card one by one and one applet can read and write, without being violated by another applet, confidential data in an area allocated to itself if need arises.